-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. BUDD. Mr. President, a month and a half ago, Hamas terrorists committed a horrific act of barbarism. More than 1,200 innocent Israelis and 33 Americans were murdered in coldblooded acts of evil. It was the deadliest massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust and the deadliest foreign attack on Americans since 9/11.

The Middle East is no stranger to violence, but the October 7 attack was particularly heinous: systematically hunting down and slaughtering young people at a concert; kidnapping elderly women out of their homes; beheading babies and burning them in ovens. The line between good and evil is as clear as it has ever been.

For the remaining innocent hostages currently being illegally held in Gaza, the terrorists and the terror continue. While we are grateful for the release of some hostages over the weekend, our hearts remain with those still being held. This includes several Americans, including Keith Siegel, a native of my home State of North Carolina.

So let me be as clear as I can: Hamas's continued holding of these innocent hostages is a violation of the law, and it represents a complete disrespect for the value of human life. Every single one of them must be released, and all levels of our government must remain united in working to get them home.

In this clash between good and evil, the question that the United States should be asking is, Who can we count on to be on our side, and who stands on the side of the terrorists?

This brings us to the state of Qatar. This is a nation that hosts Hamas's so-called political office, including Hamas leaders. From the safety of Doha, these terrorists gleefully watched and celebrated the attacks on October 7.

Now, it is important to remember that Qatar is a major non-NATO ally of the United States, and it hosts U.S. military forces at Al Udeid Air Base--a strategically important location for our operations in the Middle East. Our two nations are friends, but sometimes friends must be honest with one another.

You see, Qatar claims that they only host Hamas at the request of the U.S. Government and in coordination with Israel. There is some truth to this. Since October 7, Biden administration officials, such as CIA Director Burns, have beaten a path toward Doha, hoping that the Qatari Government's hosting of Hamas's senior leadership would provide a pathway toward ending the hostage crisis that Hamas initiated.

I certainly agree that the U.S. Government, including both the administration and Congress, should be doing everything it can to bring the hostages home, including working through allies and partners, and, to be sure, Qatar's mediation with Hamas's leaders has helped free some hostages, but at what cost and to what end?

In exchange for the release of innocent women and children who were kidnapped by Hamas, Israel was forced to exchange three Palestinian prisoners for every one innocent Israeli victim. Many, if not all, of these prisoners were arrested, charged, and sentenced for stabbings, attempted car bombings, and other heinous crimes as part of the campaign of terror. Some have already returned to the fight, donning the infamous Hamas headband and calling for the slaughter of more Jewish people.

Every day that goes by without a resolution to the hostage crisis exposes Qatar's decision to host Hamas as both foolish and flawed.

Earlier this month, I met with the Qatari Ambassador in my office. I told him in no uncertain terms that his government must pressure Hamas leaders living in Doha to immediately and unconditionally release all hostages.

In the nearly 2 months after Hamas's horrific October 7 massacre, however, we need to recognize that Qatar's current approach, while yielding limited successes, is attempting to do something unacceptable, and that is to legitimize Hamas.

Simply put, there is no future for Gaza or the Palestinians that includes Hamas. In the past 2 months, we have watched Hamas leaders use Qatar's hospitality to buy time--prolonging the war and the hostage crisis from the comfort of their luxury accommodations. While Palestinians suffer in Gaza because of the war that Hamas started, we have seen Hamas leaders push their genocidal agenda from Doha, including in multiple meetings with Iran's Foreign Minister and even in a visit to Moscow. If Qatar's leadership believes that any of this is consistent with what Washington has asked of them, it is not.

So my message to the Qatari Government is very simple: Stop this now. You are hosting a brutal terrorist organization with American blood on its hands and who is holding American hostages. Your media organizations, starting with Al Jazeera, are regularly pushing out Hamas's propaganda that only further inflames tensions in the Middle East. Your leadership continues to speak out of both sides of its mouth--on one hand, committing to negotiate a resolution to the hostage crisis while, on the other, blaming Israel and absolving Hamas at every turn.

We need to tell our friends in Doha loudly and clearly: Qatar is accepting a significant liability with its pro-Hamas policy.

So we must end this myth that this policy is something that Washington wants and urge the Qatari Government to end this policy immediately.

This is personal for Americans, and I have met with the families of hostages right here in Washington. I have heard their stories. I look at their photos every day on my desk. Every day that these families have to live with the pain and uncertainty is unacceptable. We must stand united and say: Not one more day.

We must also start thinking about the day after because there will come a day when Israel will halt its military operations in Gaza because they will have achieved their stated goal of destroying Hamas. The remaining question will then be what to do with the Hamas leaders in Doha. My view is that they should be extradited to the United States so that these terrorists can face justice in a U.S. court of law for killing and kidnapping American citizens.

I would hope that our friends in Qatar will not only be partners for peace and stability but will also be partners in ensuring that Hamas and its leaders are brought to justice for the despicable acts of terror they have committed.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source